Dufty killing guilty pleas
Pair await sentence for roles
LIAM Bliss was having a jam session with friends when a phone call changed his life forever.
The 27-year-old and a coaccused, Clinton Stockman, 29, yesterday pleaded guilty to the downgraded charge of manslaughter of Gold Coast father Greg Dufty in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
Bliss was able to remain on bail until sentencing, while Stockman, who admitted to interfering with Mr Dufty’s body after he died, was remanded in custody.
The 37-year-old pool builder was last seen in early July 2015, but his body has never been found.
Police allege a group of men bashed and killed the father-of-two over a drug debt, before burning his body at a property near Casino in northern NSW.
Seven men have been charged in relation to Mr Dufty’s death – Aaron James Crawford and brothers Lionel and Nelson Patea have all been committed to stand trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court over their alleged role in the killing.
In a police witness statement from Bliss, filed at the committal hearing of a coaccused, he said a phone call from Lionel Patea on July 6, 2015, began his alleged involvement.
Bliss recalled Patea asking him for help with “something”, and promising him money if he could, the statement claims.
“(I) was having a jam session (with friends when) I got a call from Lionel. I think the call would have been around 6.30pm,” the statement read.
“Lionel asked me to come to his house as he needed my help with something. He said he would give me some money if I could (help) him out as someone owed him some money.
“When I got there I saw Lionel, Nelson and Tara Brown, who was Lionel’s girlfriend and a long-time friend of mine. At the house Tara made us a sandwich and after having that Lionel said ‘let’s go’.
“Tara gave me the keys to her grey Mazda 2 and told me not to let Lionel drive. Before we left, Lionel said something like ‘I might have to smoke this (expletive), so just watch over me. If there’s a passenger in his car, keep an eye on him’.
“I took it to mean that he might assault someone if they didn’t give him what they owed him, whether money or drugs.
“We left Lionel’s house and he told me to drive down Maudsland Rd towards Nerang. From there Lionel was on his phone the entire time it be but I’m not sure who he was speaking with … He asked to use my phone and made a few calls … He was talking to whoever we were meeting as he was asking where we were meeting.
“Lionel was directing me where to go and eventually we ended up driving up a road I now know to be Nathan Homestead Rd. Lionel told me to pull over as we got to an area where there was a shoulder on the left side of the road. It was really dark as there were no street lights and no lights from houses. There was no one else there … and we all got out of the car. I had a smoke and stayed by the driver’s door that I had left open.
“One of them opened the boot of the car … I think they got a bag out of the boot. I saw a car drive up the hill and stop just in behind my car. I’m not sure what type of car it was but it was a big car that was grey or brown.
“Following the car was a big white truck that parked in behind the other car. I saw the driver’s door of the car open and someone got out. It was dark and I couldn’t see properly but the person looked big … it appeared as though Lionel knew this person.
“I think there was (sic) two people in the truck but again because it was dark I couldn’t get a good look at them. Both doors on the truck opened and I heard people talking.
“They all walked to the left side of the truck and I couldn’t see what they were doing. I wasn’t really interested in looking anyway and to be honest I think I may have been texting on my phone. I stayed with the car and sat back in the driver’s seat.
“Not long after, maybe two to five minutes later, Lionel, Nelson and (the other man from the Mazda) came back to the car and I think something was put into the boot but I’m not sure what it was, maybe a bag.
“Lionel sat back in the front passenger seat and I noticed that he had blood on his right hand on the fleshy part near his little finger. I remember saying something like ‘what happened?’ and Lionel said ‘nothing’. Nelson sat back in the seat behind me and (the other man) was in the seat behind Lionel.
“Lionel told me to drive so I did. He didn’t give any indications that something bad had gone down, he was fine. Nelson and (the other man) didn’t say anything either. They were all fine and didn’t make mention that they had assaulted anyone. We were all singing and talking in the car on the way back to Lionel’s.
“I have seen Lionel, Nelson and (the other man) heaps of times since that night and nothing has ever been mentioned about what happened. I would have thought that Lionel would have told me what happened just to give me a heads up but he has never mentioned it.”
Bliss and Stockman will be sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court on February 23.
LIONEL SAID SOMETHING LIKE ‘I MIGHT HAVE TO SMOKE THIS (EXPLETIVE), SO JUST WATCH OVER ME’. LIAM BLISS IN A WITNESS STATEMENT REFERRING TO A CO-ACCUSED